Latch



Dec. 25, 1951 F. MGCONNELL LATQH 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed May 8 7 47 TOR.FRANK M CONNELL FIG. 2

ATTORNEY$ Dec. 25, 1951 Filed May 8, 1947 F. MCONNELL LATCH FIG. 4.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 FRANK M CONNELL ATTORNEYS.

INVENTOR.

Patented Dec. 25, 1951 V UNITED STATES OFFICE LATCH Fr'ahk McConnell;New Britain; Count, assigiior to The American: Hardware Corporation, NewBritain, Conn-., a corporatioiia of Go'ririecti'ut Applicatiori May s,1947, Serial No". 7461768 My invention relates to latching devices and;

in particular to those are adaptable to" a door or the like.-

It is an object of m invention'to provide animproved device of thecharacter indicated.

It is another object to provide an improved:

dogging mechanism tor a latch device or are character indicated; I

It is a general object to'provide a simple, less expensive;- and morereliable construction for a latching device or the character indicated.

Other objects and various filrther featuresof the invention will bepointed out or will occur tothose skilled in the are; from a readingo'fi' the following specification conjunctionwith the drawings" includedherewith. In said drhwingsf Fig. 1 endvi'ew of a latchingdevi W cordingto the invention, shown assembled position on a door;- 7

Fig. 2 is a side View of the latch of Fig. 1,

shown with the ecverfcf latch ease retrieved:-

7 Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially in the plane 3--3'ofFig; 2; V Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but with parts in'-adiffererlt r-ela-tio" illilstla't runeum ing means. The doggingmechanism in aweferre'd form comprises ap'ivoted 1evef'havifig a dog anda cam-actuated'p'art; In the formto'be' described, the dog is at one endof the lever',--the pivot is centrally located, and the cam-actuatingmeans is an eccentric engaginga'circulanopening at the other end of thelever; Other features of; the invention include resilient meanssformain-- taining theeccentrie mechanism in one of two: selected positionsand for disengaging thedog uponstrike-plate actuation of the latch bolt.Referring to the drawings, my invention is shown in applieat'iofi to alatch mechanism In contained within a generally rectangular latch case II, to be inserted within a suitable opening in the door I2. The. frontof the latch case may comprise a plate I 3 having projecting ends whichmay be secured by screws l4 into the door I2 Knobs I5-l6 may bejournalled in rosettes I1-I8' mounted on opposite sides of the. door I2and each knob may be secured to a spindle, I9, which in; turn may engagea part; oi the;

5: Ciaims: (01. 292169) latch a'ctuating mechanism 20. A further knob 21may be mounted on one side of the door I2 to'actuate a part of thedogging mechanism 22 for dogging the latch-actuation mechanism 20. A latch bolt 23 may slidably' project beyond the latch front or plate I3 andbe resiliently urged in the extended position shown in Fig. 2, as bymeans of a spring 24, In the form shown, the latch bolt 2-3 is formedwith an elongated central opening 25', the walls of which may serve as"guides in their engagement with a stud or boss 26 carried by the latchcase II. The spring 24' is shown compressibly engagingthe boss 26 o thatthe extended position of the latch bolt 23." is determined by?atutifient or the boss 2-6 with the Bach end of the opening 25.

In the form shown, the latch-actuating mechanism 20 comprises aroll-back having two parts 21-28, both of which include hubs such as thehub 29. If ide'siired each'of-these hubs 29 may be eng'aged by aseparate spindle I9 so that one of the knobs, say the ki-iob fi, maycontrol the roll-back part 2 8 while the other of the knobs [6 maycontrol the roll-backeleinent 21. In the form shown, no matter whichoft-he knobs I'5-I6- is actuated, the generauy radio" projections ofeither one of the roll-back ele; en 21-28 may engage one of two lugs30-41 forihedin the end of a latch plate 32 (see 4 The latch plate 32may be longitudinall'y s'lidable to actuate the latch bolt 23, as bymeans of adog? or 1ug33 which may abut a projection 34 the latch bolt23. The latch plate 32' is preferably always resiliently urged to theright (in the sense of Fig. 2), as by means of a compression spring 35between a stop or abutment li omthe latch case and an upturnedprojection or lug 31 onthe latch plate. The rightward motion of theplate 32 will be understood to be limited by abutment of theroll-backengaging lugs 30 3I, with the roll-back ele- In accordance afeature of the invention, I provide a novel dog mechanism for selectablylocking, aridthl'is disabling, the roll-back mech anism 20; In apreferred form this dogging mechanism; comprises essentially a dogginglever or plate 38fha'ving at one end a dog 39 toen'gage adog-receivingrecess "411 formed in the roll-back eminent ZTj'for theoutside knob Hi. The dog gi'fig plate 38 may prvo-taily supported, asby.

slotted engagement with the boss 26 which, it will be recalled, iscarried by the latch case II. The other end of the dogging lever orplate 38 may be formed with an opening 49', which may be Oval er even anopen fork but which in the form shown is circular so as to embrace cammeans in the form of an eccentric surface 4L.

The eccentric 4| may be integral with the actuating element 42 of thedogging mechanism 22. It will be clear that upon a rotation of thedogging control knob 2| the actuating member 42 may be rotatablydisplaced from, say, the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shownin Fig. 5. This displacement causes a corresponding displacement of theeccentric 41 with a result that the dogging lever or plate 38 may beshifted from the solid-line position of Fig. 6 to the dotted-linerelationship of Fig. 6. In the latter position it will be seen that thedog 39 is in engagement with the roll-back element 21, in which positionthe roll-back element 21 will be understood to be effectively disabledso that latch operation by way of the knob 16 may be completelyprevented.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, resilient means such as aspring 43 may compressibly abut a part of the latch case H and aprojection 44 formed on the dog-actuating element 42. The spring 43preferably engages one side of the projection 44 for a first adjustedretrol knob 2| in the wrong direction, abutment means may be provided toengage the dog-control element 42. In the form shown, the element 42carries a projection 45 to engage a lug 45 formed as an upturned portionof lever 38. The other limiting position (as in Fig. of the actuatingmember 42 may be determined by abutment of a part 41 of lever 38 withthe inside of the latch case, as when further rotation (counterclockwisein the sense of Fig. 5) of member 42 causes the eccentric 4| to attemptto raise part 41 further than the position shown in Fig. 5.

In accordance with still another feature of the invention, the doggingmechanism 22 may be disabled upon a depression of the latch bolt 23, aswhen the bolt 23 engages a strike plate upon a closure of the door [2.This function may be accomplished by abutment means cooperating betweenthe latch bolt 23 and the actuating member 42 and tending to rotatemember 42 clockwise. In the form shown, the inner end of the latch boltmay carry a projection 48 which may engage the projection 45 on thedog-actuating member 42. It will be clear from an inspection of Fig. 5that even though the dogging mechan sm 22 be in locked position, thatis, with the dog 39 engaging the roll-back element 3l, the projections48-45 may be forcibly engaged when the latch bolt 23 itself isresiliently depressed as by a strike plate. This abutment may provide aclockwise turning moment sufiicient to over come the holding force ofspring 43 and to displace the actuating. member 42 to a position inwhich it may be resiliently thrown into the Fig. 2 relationship ofparts. The dog 39 will then be understood to be disengaged from theroll-back mechanism 20, so that operation ofdoor [2 by means of eitherknob -46 is again pos;ible.

It will be appreciated that I have described a relatively simplemechanism for dogging a latchactuating mechanism. The improved doggingconstruction may be fabricated of a single stamping of sheet materialand yet they be completely positive in its action. Although the pivot ofthe dogging lever or plate 38 has been described as a slotted engagementas at 49, it will be understood that this arrangement was dictated bythe nature of the eccentric construction for actuating the dogging lever38.

While I have described my invention in detail for the preferred formshown, it will be understood that modifications may be made within thescope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a lock, a latch case, a latch bolt, actuating means for said latchbolt, and dogging means for locking said actuating means, said doggingmeans including a lever having an eccentric-engaging opening at one endand a central pivoted portion, an eccentric member journalled in saidlatch case and having an eccentric portion engaging the opening of saidlever, abutment means cooperating between said eccentric member and saidlever for determining a limiting rotary displacement of said eccentricmember, and further abutment means cooperating between said latch boltand said eccentric member when said eccentric member is in a positionrotatably displaced from engagement with said first abutment means,wherebya forcible direct actuation of said latch bolt as by a strikeplate may serve to actuate said eccentric member and said dogging lever.

2. In a lock, a latch case, a latch bolt, actuating means including aroll-back having a dog-engaging means, a lever having a dog to engagesaid dog-engaging means and pivotally supported by said latch case, saidlever having an eccentricengaging opening, an eccentric memberjournalled in said latch case and including an cecentric to engage saidopening.

3. In a look, a latch case, a latch bolt, actuating means including aroll-back having a dogengaging means, a lever having a do to engage saiddog-engaging means and pivotally supported by said latch case, saidlever having an eccentricengaging opening, an eccentric memberjournalied in said latch case and includin an eccentric to engage saidopening, abutment means engaging said eccentric member to determine afirst limiting rotary position thereof, said dog being out of engagementwith said roll-back when said abutment is in near engagement with saideccentric member, and further abutment means cooperating between saidlatch bolt and said eccentric member in a second position of saideccentric member, said dog engaging said rollback for said secondposition of said eccentric member.

4. A device according to claim 3, in which said roll-back includes twoparts, one of which has said dog-engaging means, whereby said doggingmechanism may be effective to lock said latch bolt against actuationwhen one of said roll-back elements is rotated, and whereby said dog maybe ineffective to lock said latch bolt when the other of said roll-backelements is rotated.

5. In a device of the character indicated, a latch bolt, actuating meansfor said latch bolt, dogging means for said actuating means, saiddogging means including a single lever doggingly engageable with saidactuating means, eccentric actuating means for moving said lever intoand out of engagement with said actuatin means, and throw-off means forsaid dogging means and including an abutment on said latch bolt inactuating relation with said eccentric actuating tion.

FRANK MCCONNELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Andersen Dec. 16, 1924Rightmyer Fen. 11, 1936 McCarter July 13, 1937 Gasstrom Sept. 27, 1938Hurd June 27, 1939

